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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 127 records · Page 7

Coexistence of octupole deformation and beta and gamma vibrational bands in 148 Ce

From γ-γ-γ and γ-γ-γ-γ coincidence studies of spontaneous fission of 252 Cf, new high spin states in 148 Ce were identified. The octupole bands with s = +1 and s = -1 are expanded with spins with 28 + and 18 - , respectively. Importantly, a 1γ vibrational band has been established up to 14 + and a 1β vibrational band up to 6 + . The levels in γ and β bands in 148 Ce are compared systematically to those in neighboring 150 Nd and 152 Sm isotones. Further, this comparison informs the role of deformation and shape transition in this mass region. New 3 - and 5 - members of the s = +1 octupole band were observed.

148Ce↗

Signature of 0 + excited state and shape coexistence in 94 Kr through 93 Kr(d,p) 94 Kr reaction

A measurement of the excitation spectrum of 94 Kr via one-neutron transfer to the ground state of 93 Kr using the 93 Kr(d,p) 94 Kr reaction at 8A MeV, observing the outgoing protons, performed with the IRIS facility at TRIUMF is reported. Two states in 94 Kr, at 1.50±0.14 MeV and 2.20±0.14 MeV, were observed. An adiabatic-wave approximation analysis of the differential cross sections leads us to identify the lower energy state as being populated with neutron transfer to the 3 s1/2 orbital. This leads to the first observation of the lowest 0 + excited state in 94 Kr, hence signaling shape co-existence. Theoretical calculations performed within the in-medium similarity renormalization group framework are presented that also show the existence of a low-energy 0 + state, aligning qualitatively with the observation.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Disentangling Coexisting Structural Order Through Phase Lock-In Analysis of Atomic-Resolution STEM Data

As a real-space technique, atomic-resolution STEM imaging contains both amplitude and geometric phase information about structural order in materials, with the latter encoding important information about local variations and heterogeneities present in crystalline lattices. Such phase information can be extracted using geometric phase analysis (GPA), a method which has generally focused on spatially mapping elastic strain. Here we demonstrate an alternative phase demodulation technique and its application to reveal complex structural phenomena in correlated quantum materials. As with other methods of image phase analysis, the phase lock-in approach can be implemented to extract detailed information about structural order and disorder, including dislocations and compound defects in crystals. Extending the application of this phase analysis to Fourier components that encode periodic modulations of the crystalline lattice, such as superlattice or secondary frequency peaks, we extract the behavior of multiple distinct order parameters within the same image, yielding insights into not only the crystalline heterogeneity but also subtle emergent order parameters such as antipolar displacements. When applied to atomic-resolution images spanning large (~0.5 × 0.5 μm 2 ) fields of view, this approach enables vivid visualizations of the spatial interplay between various structural orders in novel materials.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Coexistence of Magnetoelectric and Antiferroelectric-like Orders in Mn 3 Ta 2 O 8

We report in materials showing a linear magnetoelectric (ME) effect, unconventional functionalities can be anticipated such as electric control of magnetism and nonreciprocal optical responses. Thus, the search for new linear ME materials is of interest in materials science. In this study, using a recently proposed design principle of linear ME materials, which is based on the combination of local structural asymmetry and collinear antiferromagnetism, we demonstrate that an anion-deficient fluorite derivative, Mn 3 Ta 2 O 8 , is a new linear ME material. This is evidenced by the onset of magnetic-field-induced electric polarization in its collinear antiferromagnetic phase below T N = 24 K. Furthermore, we also find an antiferroelectric-like phase transition at T S = 55 K, which is attributable to an off-center displacement of magnetic Mn 2+ ions. The present study shows that Mn 3 Ta 2 O 8 is a rare material that exhibits both ME and antiferroelectric-like transitions. Thus, Mn 3 Ta 2 O 8 may provide an opportunity to investigate the physics associated with complicated interactions between magnetic (spin) and electric dipole degrees of freedom.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Tunable superconductivity coexisting with the anomalous Hall effect in a transition metal dichalcogenide

Transition metal dichalcogenides display a high technological potential due to their wide range of electronic ground states. Here, we unveil that by tuning hydrostatic pressure P, a cascade of electronic phase transitions can be induced in the few-layer transition metal dichalcogenide 1 T ’-WS 2 . As P increases, we observe the suppression of superconductivity with the concomitant emergence of an anomalous Hall effect (AHE) at P ≈ 1.15 GPa. Above 1.6 GPa, we uncover a reentrant superconducting state emerging from a state still exhibiting AHE. This superconducting state competes with the AHE state and shows a marked increase in superconducting anisotropy with respect to the ambient pressure phase, suggesting a distinct pairing symmetry. We demonstrate that 1 T ’-WS 2 concomitantly transitions into a strong topological phase with different band orbital characters and Fermi surfaces contributing to the superconductivity. These findings position 1T’-WS 2 as a tunable superconductor, wherein superconductivity, AHE, and band features can be tuned reversibly.

Superconducting properties and materials↗

Dominant end-tunneling effect in two distinct Luttinger liquids coexisting in one quantum wire

Luttinger liquids occupy a notable place in physics as one of the most understood classes of quantum many-body systems. The experimental mission of measuring its main prediction, power laws in observable quantities, has already produced a body of exponents in different semiconductor and metallic structures. Here, we combine tunneling spectroscopy with density-dependent transport measurements in the same quantum wires over more than two orders of magnitude in temperature to very low electron temperatures down to ∼40 mK. This reveals that, when the second 1D subband becomes populated, the temperature dependence splits into two ranges with different exponents in the power-law dependence of the conductance, both dominated by the finite-size effect of the end-tunneling process. This result demonstrates the importance of measuring the Luttinger parameters as well as the number of modes independently through spectroscopy in addition to the transport exponent in the characterization of Luttinger liquids. This opens a pathway to unambiguous interpretation of the exponents observed in quantum wires.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

The coexistence of the streaming instability and the vertical shear instability in protoplanetary disks

The streaming instability is a promising mechanism to induce the formation of planetesimals. Nonetheless, this process has been found in previous studies to require either a dust-to-gas surface density ratio or a dust size that is enhanced compared to observed values. Employing two-dimensional global simulations of protoplanetary disks, we show that the vertical shear instability and the streaming instability in concert can cause dust concentration that is sufficient for planetesimal formation for lower surface density ratios and smaller dust sizes than the streaming instability in isolation, and in particular under conditions that are consistent with observational constraints. This is because dust overdensities forming in pressure bumps induced by the vertical shear instability act as seeds for the streaming instability and are enhanced by it. While our two-dimensional model does not include self-gravity, we find that strong dust clumping and the formation (and dissolution) of gravitationally unstable overdensities can be robustly inferred from the evolution of the maximum or the mean dust-to-gas volume density ratio. The vertical shear instability puffs up the dust layer to an average mid-plane dust-to-gas density ratio that is significantly below unity. We therefore find that reaching a mid-plane density ratio of one is not necessary to trigger planetesimal formation via the streaming instability when it acts in unison with the vertical shear instability.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Coexistence of soft and hard magnetic phases in single layer amorphous Tb–Co thin films

Amorphous, ferrimagnetic Tb-Co thin films prepared with a thin Ta underlayer and either a Ta or a Pt overlayer show evidence of both soft and hard magnetic phases. At room temperature, the films exhibit conventional ferromagnetism, but low temperature magnetometry measurements reveal the decoupling of the two magnetic phases with decreasing temperature due to increased anisotropy energy of the hard layer at lower temperatures. Decreasing the film thickness to 2 nm, slightly above the superparamagnetic limit found at 1 nm, a soft, low-density phase was isolated and found to be present in all the films as confirmed with x-ray reflectivity and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry measurements. For greater thicknesses, the bottom layer retains its soft magnetic nature, while the remainder of the film is denser and has strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, leading to the exchange-spring behavior when the anisotropy becomes large, either at low temperatures or via a Pt overlayer that adds a strong interfacial anisotropy to the layer. Micromagnetic simulations of a soft/hard bilayer model with the experimentally determined anisotropy and magnetization parameters into a soft/hard bilayer model reproduced the experimental hysteretic behavior very well. These findings demonstrate how the magnetic state and the response of a-Tb-Co films to external fields can be controlled, providing a high degree of tunability that is promising for high-performance nanoscale devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Revisiting the pseudo-supercritical path method: An improved formulation for the alchemical calculation of solid–liquid coexistence

Alchemical free energy calculations via molecular dynamics have been applied to obtain thermodynamic properties related to solid–liquid equilibrium conditions, such as melting points. In recent years, the pseudo-supercritical path (PSCP) method has proved to be an important approach to melting point prediction due to its flexibility and applicability. In the present work, we propose improvements to the PSCP alchemical cycle to make it more compact and efficient through a concerted evaluation of different potential energies. The multistate Bennett acceptance ratio (MBAR) estimator was applied at all stages of the new cycle to provide greater accuracy and uniformity, which is essential concerning uncertainty calculations. In particular, for the multistate expansion stage from solid to liquid, we employed the MBAR estimator with a reduced energy function that allows affine transformations of coordinates. Free energy and mean derivative profiles were calculated at different cycle stages for argon, triazole, propenal, and the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium hexafluorophosphate. Comparisons showed a better performance of the proposed method than the original PSCP cycle for systems with higher complexity, especially the ionic liquid. Furthermore, a detailed study of the expansion stage revealed that remapping the centers of mass of the molecules or ions is preferable to remapping the coordinates of each atom, yielding better overlap between adjacent states and improving the accuracy of the methodology.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Coexistence of vitreous and crystalline phases of H 2 O at ambient temperature

Formation of vitreous ice during rapid compression of water at room temperature is important for biology and the study of biological systems. Here, we show that Raman spectra of rapidly compressed water at greater than 1 GPa at room temperature exhibits the signature of high-density amorphous ice, whereas the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern is dominated by crystalline ice VI. To resolve this apparent contradiction, we used molecular dynamics simulations to calculate full vibrational spectra and diffraction patterns of mixtures of vitreous ice and ice VI, including embedded interfaces between the two phases. We show quantitatively that Raman spectra, which probe the local polarizability with respect to atomic displacements, are dominated by the vitreous phase, whereas a small amount of the crystalline component is readily apparent by XRD. The results of our combined experimental and theoretical studies have implications for detecting vitreous phases of water, survival of biological systems under extreme conditions, and biological imaging. The results provide additional insight into the stable and metastable phases of H 2 O as a function of pressure and temperature, as well as of other materials undergoing pressure-induced amorphization and other metastable transitions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Landscape of coexisting excitonic states in the insulating single-layer cuprates and nickelates

We present an ab initio study of the excitonic states of a prototypical high-temperature superconductor La 2 CuO 4 and compare them to the isostructural single-layer nickelate La 2 NiO 4 . A key difference in the low-energy electronic structure leads to very different excitonic behavior. Excitons in La 2 CuO 4 are delocalized and can freely move in the CuO 2 plane without disturbing the antiferromagnetic order. In contrast, in La 2 NiO 4 , we find the low-lying excitonic states to be extremely localized, producing a nearly flat dispersion. The theoretically obtained excitonic dispersion and behavior are in excellent agreement with RIXS observations. To classify the excitons, we project the electron-hole coupling onto each atomic site including the full manifold of atomic orbitals. We find the excitons to be composed of a linear combination of exciton classes, including Mott-Hubbard, d-d, and charge-transfer. The implication of these excitations to the high-T c pairing mechanism is also discussed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗